Jim Souhan analyzes the local sports scene and advises you to never take his betting advice. He likes old guitars and old music, never eats press box hot dogs, and can be heard on 1500ESPN at 2:05 p.m. weekdays, and Sundays from 10 a.m.-noon.

Posts about Wolves players

Wrote about why I love the Wolves' trade for Kevin Garnett for the Friday paper.

Here's another way to look at the deal:
It means Flip Saunders blew it when he spent a first-round pick on Thad Young.

I didn't like that deal at the time. I came around to thinking it was sensible, until I watched Young try (or not try) to play defense. Then I hated it all over again.

Young was who we thought he was: Kevin Love Lite. He produced decent numbers but wasn't a winning player.

So I'm glad the Wolves dealt him for a player who could be the perfect mentor for Andrew Wiggins. But Saunders overestimated Young, and this team's ability to win.

========

Last podcast at SouhanUnfiltered.com was with Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve at Kieran's Irish Pub. Reeve talked about how she got her start in coaching, and how she constantly sees flaws in MVP Maya Moore's game. Next podcast: Friday, 4:30 p.m. at O'Gara's Bar & Grill with old friend Bob Sansevere. My band, The Bar Chords, will play at 7;30ish at O'Gara's, leading into live karaoke.

Saturday, Strib hockey writer Michael Russo and I will do our latest podcast from the Alive&Social Network studios in Minneapolis.

On Tuesday night, the Gophers fell behind by 17 points before rallying...and losing.

The Wild continued to embarrass itself and its entire effort-based sport with another pathetic performance.

Our bright spot came from the NBA. Actually, from two unanticipated sources in the NBA.

Mo Williams.

And Kevin Love.

Mo, as you know, scored 52 points to break the Wolves' losing streak. Just as impressive, he scored 52 points without frequenting the paint. He scored 52 points with a 7-3 assist-to-turnover ratio. He was both prolific and efficient, and it's nice to see a Wolves point guard invested in avoiding losing. (You can come back any month now, Ricky.)

While Mo was doing strange things, Kevin Love kept proving he is who we thought he was. In a loss at Phoenix, Cavs coach David Blatt benched Love for the fourth quarter, saying he liked the way his on-court lineup matchup up with Phoenix defensively.

In other words, Love remains a terrible defensive player.

Love finished with nine points and nine rebounds. He was 3-for-11 from the field. He was a team-worst minus-20.

Blatt made headlines the other day by saying Love isn't a maximum-contract player. He tried to spin that after guaging the public reaction, but I believe he was offering an honest assessment of a limited player.

Love is great at putting up big numbers. He's not so great at playing winning basketball.

I'll admit I've been conflicted on Love (great band name) for years. I've praised his productivity. I thought Wolves fans blamed him too much for the struggles of what has been a terrible basketball organization. But I also questioned his effort, defense and attitude at times.

Now he's playing with the best player in the world, on a team that should be near the top of the East, and the Cavs are 19-20, and Love is partly to blame.

I'll give Flip Saunders credit for getting Andrew Wiggins for Love, and I'll also credit the Golden State Warriors for being smart enough to keep Klay Thompson. It's not surprising that the team that decided against trading for Love is playing so well.

----------

Tonight's podcast: 5 p.m. at The Local (the great Irish bar on Nicollet), former Viking and current North High AD Leo Lewis will be my guest. Friday at 5 p.m. at O'Gara's, my guest will be Strib hockey writer Michael Russo. You can listen live or later at SouhanUnfiltered.com. Thanks.

According to Bovada of Las Vegas, the two teams favored to win the NBA championship are the Chicago Bulls and the Golden State Warriors. Both are listed at 5-to-1 odds.

What do they have in common?

Both considered trading for Kevin Love, and decided against it.

The Bulls are 25-10, even with Derrick Rose struggling to overcome injuries.

The Warriors are an NBA-best 27-5, and are the most entertaining team in the league as well as the best.

The Cavaliers, who added LeBron James and Love, are 19-16 and currently in the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference.

If there are lessons to be learned here, I think they are these:

1. Love is proving again that he is capable of accumulating numbers without dramatically affecting the outcome of games. He went for 30 points and 18 rebounds last night...and the Cavs lost again.

2. Those who argued against the Wolves trading Love for Klay Thompson said that Thompson was a one-dimensional player, a pure shooter and little else. They ignored the fact that he's a driven young player who was bound to improve, and has.

3. The Wolves probably made the right decision, trading Love for Andrew Wiggins. Despite a remarkably optimistic view from inside the Wolves' organization before this season started - there were key decision-makers who thought this team could make the playoffs - this roster is nowhere ready to win. So Thompson would have been frustrated, even if he had helped the Wolves win a ffew more games.

If you're going to lose big, you might as well do it with young players.

I figure I"ll catch up on my phone or laptop later, and I usually do, scanning the major headlines and checking Twitter for updates.

Here's why that's stupid, for me and for you:

When I (or you) read the actual newspaper, I find things I would never seek out or notice online.

This morning, the front page of the Star Tribune featured a piece by veteran reporter Randy Furst on a Brooklyn Park man being accused of trying to overthrow the Gambian government.

It's a fascinating read, and not just because the code name he gave one of his cohorts was - I'm not making this up - ``Dave.''

The United States government is prosecuting a Gambian man who tried to overthrow what he believes to be a corrupt and sinister government in is home country. It's a movie plot spelled out on the front page of your local paper, with great details provided by Furst.

Also on our front page: Oil dipping below $50 a barrel, which could mean - get this - American families could have $115 billion more to spend this year in disposable income.

Also on the front page: Science proves that cold weather does indeed increase the strength of cold viruses.

In sports, on a slow news day, we have a perspective piece by David La Vaque on the dearth of female high school hockey coaches in girls hockey, and Phil Miller's interview with the always-entertaining Eddie Guardado on his inclusion on the Hall of Fame ballot.

On Page 2, we have a Nuggets nugget from Michael Rand on one of my favorite topics: Modern coaches' efforts to re-think traditional approaches. NBA and NHL teams hold shoot/skate-arounds the mornings of games in part to keep their players from staying out all night. Now the Nuggets are finding that their players are staying out anyway, and considering scrapping the morning shootaround so their players have time to sleep.

Here's my grander point:

None of those are stories I would have sought out online, and they may be my favorite stories of the day.

Somewhere along the line, newspapers became uncool. So my suggestion to modern readers is to look at the newspaper not as a newspaper, but as an amazingly cheap service: A printout of online stories you might love, and might have otherwise missed.

I've read a lot of studies that make the case that people are far better informed when they read the newspaper than when they rely on other outlets for information. It's easy to see why.

-On a completely different note, I found the words ``panic button'' in at least two stories this morning.

People: There is no such thing. I've never seen one. Asking an athlete or coach if it's time to push ``the panic button'' is inane and pointless. What is the best possible answer you will get to that question? Stop it. Thank you.

-Interesting week. I'll be at the Gophers-Ohio State game tonight and at Wild-Blackhawks on Thursday. It's rare to have two important games in hockey or basketball in early January, but these qualify.

-Wednesday night, Twins general manager Terry Ryan will be my guest at Kieran's Irish Pub, across from Target Center, at 5 p.m. for my podcast. You can listen live or anytime to that and my other podcasts at SouhanUnfiltered.com. Thank you.

Wrote about Andrew Wiggins in my column, so I'll use this space to offer instant and egiously presumptuous takeaways from the Wolves' 105-101 loss to Memphis on Wednesday night.

1. Thaddeus Young looks very comfortable being the best player on this team. He can shoot, he can get to the hoop, he can pass, and he plays hard. ``And he's only 25,'' coach Flip Saunders said. ``People don't realize how young he is. There were times out there where our average age was 23.''

2. Young and Mo Williams were ideal pickups for this roster. Williams' flagrant foul late in the game was damaging, but overall he played an exellent game, looking capable of either playing for or alongside Ricky Rubio.

3. Flip was right - this team has depth. The Wolves bench was impressive, outscoring Memphis 46-10.

4. Shabazz Muhammad really does look like a different human. Much leaner than last year after his intense offseason workouts, Muhammad played hard on both ends, scoring 13 points in 23 minutes and grabbing seven rebounds. I was not in favor of the Wolves drafting him, and I didn't like the way he played last year. Wednesday, he was an asset.

5. I did like the pick of Gorgui Dieng late in the first round last year, and he made a big impact on Wednesday, with eight points, four rebounds and a strong defensive presence in 19 minutes. He injured his right hand in the first half but returned with the hand wrapped, just another indication of his competitiveness. ``I was afraid he was going to be out a lot longer than 20 minutes,'' Saunders said.

6. Chase Budinger still looks lost. He went 0-for-4 from the field with no assists. I thought he would fit well into former coach Rick Adelman's system, but injuries kept that from happening, and he still doesn't look right.

7. Corey Brewer was a mess. He kept blowing defensive assignments, then having to explain himself to the bench. He went 2-for-7 from the field and had two turnovers.

8. As he did in the preseason, Anthony Bennett showed signs of getting it, producing nine points and three rebounds in 14 minutes. He attacked the rim aggressively and even hit a long jumper.

9. Zach LaVine did not play, and will probably be saved for garbage time early in the season.

10. Saunders seems energized, and seems to like his team. Through 48 minutes of the season, I can see why. They play hard and unselfishly and they put on a good show against a good team on Wednesday.

-----------------

I'll be on WJON at 7:15. Instead of my usual 12;15 appearance, I'll be on 1500ESPN at 9:45 or so tomorrow. Thanks for reading and/or listening.